Eggs Benedict at Osteria

After reading this article on eggs benedict on CityWeekend, I decided I must brunch at Osteria (another Vargas venture) to try their version of eggs benedict, available only during weekend brunch. It was also the cheaper option of the three. Since Greg Gilvison had me try his version of eggs benedict at Kabb, I have acquired a taste for those runny yolks.

For 58rmb, you can order the eggs benedict a la carte. The two poached eggs can come with either salmon, prosciutto (Osteria is Italian), or spinach (eggs florentine). The servers let you mix and match so I elected for the salmon and the spinach.


The plate came out looking impressive. Along with the eggs sitting on Italian bread, there was a small rocket salad with a few grape tomatoes and grilled potatoes. The eggs benedict were generously doused in a rich, creamy, deep yellow hollandaise sauce and sprinkled with freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt. The hollandaise sauce was just tangy enough from the lemon juice, but the citrus presence was not over-powering. The bread was already absorbing the bulk of the sauce. Peeking under the eggs, the salmon is cooked all the way through and still moist.

Cracking into the eggs, it was incredibly disappointing to find that the yolks were cooked all the way through and not gooey or oozing in anyway. Perhaps this was a good sign considering the bread was hitting its maximum absorption point from the hollandaise sauce and the slight fact that the eggs may not have been drained thoroughly enough. Otherwise, the bread would have turned into a semi-solid mushy mass. In any case, seeing that the yolks were cooked to a solid state decreased the excitement of the meal. The salmon not only did look moist, but indeed was and had a buttery smoked flavor. The spinach could have had a larger presence in the dish so each bite could be an even combination of egg, hollandaise sauce, bread and spinach. However, the portion of salmon was generous to go around. A few of the potatoes got hit by the hollandaise sauce, but were tough on the outside, which made each bite unsatisfyingly chewy.

Do classic eggs benedict have runny or solid egg yolks? My experience has seen more of the first than the latter. This should be confirmed...

I am not sure if I will go back to Osteria for their eggs benedict - though the hollandaise was nice - but I should try the oyster Tuesday special.

Osteria. 226 Jinxian Lu, near Shaanxi Nan Lu 进贤路226号, 近陕西南路. Shanghai, People's Republic of China